Aurora Island
Aurora island is the capital of the whole AHSCA Chain. While not nearly as big as Animalpolis it was deemed the capital during the war, as a tribute to Shino Nano. It could very well be the only place that acts as both a capital and a state. It's capital consists of one unified village community, known as Aurora Village. Climate Aurora's temperatures in the summer time will often reach the low hundreds, with 11.2 inches of rain weekly. In winter time however the temperatures will stay in the mid 90's. However Winter is usually the time more thunderstorms occur with the monsoon season and hurricane season in the northern hemisphere. Aurora is very subjected to Hurricanes, especially when hurricanes are a Trail Island Hurricane. The average strength is believed to be a Category 3 or less, but every other year or so a strong one will strike the islands. Lighting is a common hazard during the monsoon season. Nights are usually pleasantly warm year round, in summer they dip to the low 80's, in winter the mid 70's. History Aurora was established as a colony of Kurona to act as a midway stop route for merchant ships on trade routes. Prince Maki Nozaki the crowned prince of Kurona had the military work with the natives to build docks and shipping ports for Kurona trade ships to enter and exit. Prince Nozaki also put in a territorial governor who was appointed as a Grand Duchess, the first known Duchess was Miyoshi Suzuhara a noblewoman who had lived in Kurona but came to rule for the Prince. In the mid 1950s Kurona Princess Kejia Albin released the island from Kurona control letting the Grand Duchy continue on it's own. With time passing most of the old relics of Kurona's time as rule was lost to nature and tradition as the Duchy continue to switch hands with marriages and deaths in the family. Before the war Aurora continued to operate as being the most influential neighbor to the other islands reaching out for trade and other early government relations becoming the per-cursor to the modern government. During the war it became a major occupation for enemy forces using the island as a lunch pad for invasions of the other islands. The AHSCA Constitutional Convention] was hosted in secret on this island following a temporary cease fire thus deeming it the capital island of the chain. In the early days of nationhood Aurora consisted solely of a single unified village community more akin to it's early days. With population growth, Duchess Shino Villa allowed villages to be drawn up as mini boundaries due to influx of other islanders and cultures coming in. Culture Aurora largely adopted it's culture from the Japanese based population of Kurona and more recently Mokostana. Of the islands it's considered to be the most "modernized" and progressive Language Aurora recognizes and speaks what are known as the Four Major Languages of the chain, Japanese, English, Esperanto and in recent times Mokan Spanish. Students will generally learn at least two of these languages in their time, those villages situated nearest the Mokan Military Installation are the most likely to adopt Spanish. Dress With the constant hot weather it's no surprise that many people chose to chose the typical island garb of a long modesty cloth and breast wrap (for women; men shirtless). However due to the influence of Kurona many common modern clothes are shared with the traditional garb of the other islands. Sun dresses are more common. Leotards such as the one Shino wears often are a popular trend more than the two part cloth or loins seen on other islands. Dresses, overalls, and many modern cloths are seen to. Public nudity is a widely embraced and accepted custom, few pay attention to it. Some also favor the classical Kimono especially for tradition and ceremonial purposes.